Tag Archives: creating rubrics

11 steps for rubric development

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by Bruce Getz
Ph.D. student, University of Florida

Bruce Getz

Bruce Getz

The first time I heard the word “rubric” I was in my first faculty meeting as a first-year teacher, and I had no idea the meaning of the term.

It took several weeks to work up the courage to ask more experienced teachers what a rubric was.  As a new teacher, unfamiliar with assessment practices, I had no idea the design and implementation of rubrics would play an integral part in my professional development and experience as an educator.

I have distilled the lessons I learned throughout my teaching career into the following approach to rubric development.

Before I outline the process of rubric development, it is important to understand the role of the individual teacher in rubric design.  Of the many assessment tools available to us rubrics may be the most versatile.  Rubrics allow individual educators an opportunity to create a custom-grading tool, which aligns directly to the course, lesson, and learning objective they are teaching.

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Grading rubric provides clarity for instructors and students

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by Greenberry “Tripp” Taylor
Master’s student, University of Florida

Greenberry "Tripp" Taylor

Tripp Taylor’s teaching assistantship is working with undergraduates in the Innovation News Center.

Having a checklist usually makes things simpler and more efficient. For example, if you go to the grocery store with a list, chances are you can make it in-and-out quickly because you know exactly what you’re looking for.

This is a good way to think of a rubric – a very advanced, evaluative checklist used by instructors. Just like a grocery list, instructors can take time and think about what objectives they want an assignment to have. Having set expectations can help eliminate subjectivity, and also shave some time off the grading process.

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Creating Rubrics: The art of evaluation

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by Andrea E. Hall
Ph.D. student, University of Florida

One of the biggest issues surrounding teaching today is how to effectively evaluate students. While testing is a major component, especially for our brothers and sisters in secondary education, it isn’t the be-all and end-all of the educational system as it is often made out to be.

Wilbert McKeachie’s book McKeachie’s Teaching Tips: Strategies, Research, and Theory for College and University Teachers stresses the importance of validity in assessment. Just like in research, validity asks if the assessment is measuring what it is supposed to be measuring. The reality in teaching is some topics simply can’t be evaluated as effectively with tests, which is where papers and projects often become the choice method.

However, there are often more variables to consider when assigning a paper or project than filling in multiple-choice bubbles. This where creating a rubric as a guide for both the student and later for you, as the grading teacher, is useful.

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